Australian Jews Petition Court to Enforce Order Against Denier

April 6, 2001

SYDNEY, Australia (Apr. 5)

Australian Jewish leaders have petitioned a court to order a Holocaust denier to remove revisionist material from his Internet site.

The leaders of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry argued this week before Australia’s Federal Court that Frederick Toben has not complied with an order issued last October calling on him to remove the material and apologize to the Jewish community.

The October ruling by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found that Toben’s activities were illegal under Australia’s Racial Hatred Act.

Toben refused to follow the directive of the commission, which does not have the power to enforce its orders.

Toben was slated to participate last month in a Holocaust denial conference in Beirut, but the meeting was canceled at the last minute by the Lebanese government.

In the April issue of The Review, the monthly magazine of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, Toben claimed that Jews “should like me. I’ve freed them from the Holocaust. I’ve proved it never happened.”

Toben has served a prison term in Germany for Holocaust denial.

Toben has been informed that if he returns to Germany, he will face charges under that nation’s anti-racism legislation for the contents of his Internet site.